Not for the squeamish...

...yes, it's time to talk kidney stones.

My dad is a Urologist and his specialty is kidney stones.
I believe he was also the first in our immediate family to have
a kidney stone.  First, but not the last.  For many years, all my immediate family - mom, dad, brothers & sister all had kidney stones...but not me.  Now there were many reasons speculated why I was the holdout...one was that I moved to Canada. Well, I have certainly dispelled that myth.

Another was my dietary habits.  So imagine the irony that the beginning of a healthy eating kick - Green Smoothies in my new VitaMix (spinach + almond milk) probably is what kicked my kidney stone production into high speed.   No more green smoothies for me.

My first kidney stone after lithotripsy

My first kidney stone, seen here after being broken up by lithotripsy, came to me in a dream...lol.  I actually thought I was having a dream where I was being stabbed in my side but after I awoke and realized the pain was not going away  I thought "hmmmm... I may be finally entering the kidney stone clan". It was reconfirmed yesterday when I passed my 2nd kidney stone and I still have one hanging out in my left kidney.

My family sent me messages of reassurance (after all they have all had the experience) and suggestions on how to cope.  My team sent me messages to keep my spirits up (see my eCard).  And I now have a great appreciation for morphine drips in the Emergency Room.

And on that note, I'm off to drink another glass of water ;-)